Equipment for locomotive fireboxes



Nov. 30; 1943. c A. SIEGEL EQUIPMENT FOR LOCOMOTIVE FIREBOXE IS Filed April 30, 1942 INVEN R. ma, @1 BY TTORNEYS.

referredtomore fully hereinafter.

Patented Nov. 30, 1943 comm :srAT-ES iii-Emterm nammnn'riioazifioiv ilrwn rlneaoxns I Qhester 'A. Siegel, Newarki 'J., 'assignor to American ArchCompany, New 'YorkyN. Y.,- a

corporation of Dclaware Applicationhprilw,1942, Serial No. 441,181 g I 'siclkiims. (oi-.- 224's)- 7 This invention relates to equipment for locomotive fireboxes; and is particularly concerned but also for achievement of certain other objects In vgrat'eefired coal-burning locomotives, especially where the velocity of the fuel and flame stream is relatively high, a considerable -quan tity of cinders has been carried upwardlyand forwardly overthe rear edge of the usual fire arch; This has givenrise to anumbercf difiiculties including cinder cutting and flue plugging.

.On the one hand, .the cinders, being carried in the fuel and flamestream, frequently pass-for headsof thecrown. sheet staybolts are cut away.

On' the otherhand, the carrying of; a large, ouantity of cinders with the fuel and flame stream abovethe arch andthence forwardly to the flue tubes,,has resulted; in plugging of fiues.

Beyond the foregoing, it may be mentioned that at least a large part of the so-called cinders actually comprises burnable fuel which, if retained in the zone of the fire bed for a sufficient length of time, will burn out.

One of the principal objects of the invention is the provision of means for materially reducing the quantity of cinders carried over the arch by the fuel and flame stream, thereby correspondingly reducing the foregoing and other disadvantages.

More specifically, the invention contemplates a novel relative arrangement of water circulator elements and of the fire arch in a manner serving to return cinders to the grate and thereby reduc-- ing the quantity of cinders carried over the rear edge of the arch by the fuel and flame stream.

The foregoing is preferably accomplished by employment of a fiat bodied circulator element arranged transversely of the firebox at the rear edge of the arch and having an appreciable portion thereof projecting below the plane of the rear edge of the arch. In this way, a baflle action is set up at the rear edge of the arch tending to deflect the cinders downwardly to the fuel bed, as will appear more clearly hereinafter.

How the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained is fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing, illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention, and in which-- At the forward end of the taken substantially as indicated by the section line. 2-2 onFigure 1.

The firebox is defined by side sheets 3-3,,a crcwnsheet 4, a throat sheet 5 and an'inside back sheet 6. -Water-space is provided at all of these sides of the firebox by the employment of outside sheets cooperatingwith the inside sheets just mentioned. Thus, the wrapper sheet I overlies the crown sheet and extends downwardly in spacedrelation to the sidesheets 3. An outside throatsheetfi cooperates with sheet 5, and an outside'back sheet 9 cooperates with sheet .6. Mud ring it "closes the space between the inside and outside sheets around the edges of the firebox, and the fuel burning grates (not shown) are ordinarily locatedsubstantially inthe plane of this 'mudiring. yThe firebox maybe fired either .manually or by a mechanicalstoker, a fire door being indicated, at II. v

firebox, the flue sheet l2 cooperates with flue tubes it, only two of .whichare illustrated, although itWill be understoodthat a multiplicity is ordinarily employed. The flue tubes, of course, extend forwardly through the boiler barrel and usually terminate in the smokebox for discharge of products of combustion through the stack.

At a position well rearwardly in the firebox, a transverse circulator body I4 is arranged, this body being transversely arched, as clearly appears in Figure 2, and having its ends connected with the side water legs. high point, an outlet i5 connects the transverse body with the water space above the crown sheet 4. As illustrated, the transverse body M has appreciable side face area, preferably being of flat sided configuration. Stay-bolting It may be employed to strengthen the inlet body.

A plurality of circulator tubes I! (three being shown in Figure 2) interconnects the inlet body 14 of the circulator and the water space at the throat sheet,'these tubes being extended downwardly and forwardly from the body l4 so as to provide for support of arch brick l8 constituting a refractory arch. This arch desirably is extended throughout the entire space between the throat sheet and the circulator body M. I

As clearly seen in the drawing; the upper an rear ends of tubes I! are connected with the circulator body at an elevation above the lower Toward its central or 1 edge of the body, in view of which the rear edge of the arch formed by bricks I 8 is quite high with reference to the lower edge of the transverse body.

With the transverse circulator body 14 located well rearwardly in the firebox, the fuel and flame stream-indicated by the arrows in Figure 1- rising from the major portion of the area of the fire bed (the forward portion) is caused to flow upwardly and thence rearwardly at the under side of the arch l8. At the rear edge of the arch, said stream is deflected downwardly by the lower portion of the transverse circulator body I4, in consequence of which the motion of the cinders initially carried by the stream is broken and/or the cinders ar deflected downwardly so that a large proportion of the cinders returns to the fire bed.

The fuel and flame stream bends upwardly and thence forwardly over the arch for entrance into the flue tubes I3.

According to the invention, therefore, 'the quantity of cinders carried over the arch and along the under side of the crown sheet 4 is very materially reduced, thereby correspondingly reducing abrasion and cutting away of the heads of staybolts, a few of which are indicated at l9. It will be understood that a multiplicity of staybolts is distributed throughout the crown sheet area as well as throughout the areas of the side sheets and other parts of the firebox.

Flue plugging, hereinbefore referred to, is also reduced by virtue of the arrangement described.

Although the transverse circulator body l4 'may be located at a point farther forward in the firebox (for instance, as shown in my copending application filed concurrently herewith, Serial No. 441,180), and although the fire arch may extend both fore and aft of this transverse body, the location of said body (as illustrated) well rearwardly in the firebox and at the rear edge of the arch is preferred for the purposes herein contemplated. The location herein disclosed, and especially where a substantial side face area of the transverse body projects below the plane of the arch, is highly effective in deflecting the fuel and flame stream downwardly before it passes up and over the rear edge of the arch. As a result, the action of throwing the cinders back to the fire bed is at a maximum.

The action just described is further enhanced in the arrangement illustrated by virtue of the fact that the transverse plane in which the body 14 lies is substantially perpendicular to the general plane of the arch, thereby providing an abrupt downward break in the fuel and flame stream at the rear edge of the arch. Projection of tubes [1 perpendicular to the plane of the flatted body l4 also facilitates the making of the tube connections. When arranged in this way, the plane of the body 14 is inclined somewhat forwardly, and in view of this, in order to facilitate making the connection between the outlet l5 and the crown sheet, the upper end of the outlet is preferably bent so as to extend generally perpendicularly to the crown sheet, as clearly appears in Figure 1.

I claim:

1. For a locomotive firebox, circulator equipment comprising a transverse circulator body of appreciable side face area, having its ends connected with the side water legs at a point spaced considerably to the rear of the throat sheet, and a plurality of circulator tubes adapted to support arch brick, said tubes being extended upwardly and rearwardly from the throat sheet and being connected with said body at an elevation appreciably above the lower edge of the body.

2. A construction in accordance with claim 1 in which an outlet element interconnects said circulator body and the crown sheet.

3. For a locomotive firebox circulator equipment comprising a transverse inlet body having its ends connected with the side water legs, a plurality of circulator tubes connected with and extending forwardly and downwardly from said transverse body, said tubes also serving as a circulator inlet and having the forward ends thereof connected with the throat sheet and providing for support of arch brick forming a refractory arch extending upwardly and rearwardly from the throat sheet, and outlet means comprising an element interconnecting said body and the crown sheet.

CHESTER A. SIEGEL. 

